John Locke, An Essay Concerning Quotes

A collection of quotes by John Locke, An Essay Concerning .

John Locke was a prominent English philosopher who lived from 1632 to 1704. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential Enlightenment thinkers. Locke's ideas played a crucial role in shaping political philosophy, epistemology, and education. His most famous work, "An Essay Concerning Human Understanding," published in 1690, remains a significant contribution to philosophical thought.

Locke's "Essay" rejects the notion that human beings are born with innate knowledge. Instead, he argues that human understanding and ideas are derived from experience. This theory, known as empiricism, greatly influenced the development of modern psychology and served as a cornerstone for the scientific method.

In addition to his groundbreaking views on epistemology, Locke also made significant contributions to political theory. In his influential work "Two Treatises of Government," published in 1689, he rejected the divine right of kings and argued that political power should be based on the consent of the governed. Locke's ideas exerted a profound influence on Enlightenment thinkers, including Thomas Jefferson, who incorporated many of Locke's principles into the United States Declaration of Independence.

Throughout his life, John Locke's writings and ideas challenged prevailing beliefs and laid the groundwork for modern democratic societies. His emphasis on individual liberty, religious tolerance, and the importance of reason continues to resonate with philosophical and political thinkers today. Locke's legacy as a scholar and philosopher remains enduring, asserting his place as one of the key figures of the Enlightenment.

All ideas come from sensation or reflection.--Let us then suppose the mind to be, as we say, white paper, void of all characters, without any ideas; how comes it to be furnished? Whence comes it by that vast store, which the busy and boundless fancy of man has painted on it with an almost endless variety? Whence has it all the materials of reason and knowledge? To this I answer, in one word, from Experience; in that all our knowledge is founded, and from that it ultimately derives itself. Our observation, employed either about external sensible objects, or about the internal operations of our minds, perceived and reflected on by ourselves, is that which supplies our understandings with all the materials of thinking. These two are the fountains of knowledge, from whence all the ideas we have, or can naturally have, do spring.

John Locke, An Essay Concerning

Ideas